Newsletter

Thai – Japanese joint research to assess microbial community in flood-affected river sediment

Thai – Japanese joint research to assess microbial community in flood-affected river sediment

PRESS RELEASE

Thai – Japanese joint research to assess microbial community in flood-affected river sediment

BIOTEC and NITE, a Japanese research organization, embark on a joint project to assess microbial community structures in flood affected river sediment and its capability on degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). The goal is to search for microorganisms for bioremediation application.

Last year, Thailand’s northern and central region was heavily inundated. The flooding crisis resulted in massive deposition of organic matters and toxic substances in the affected areas which potentially led to remarkable alteration in microbial ecology. “This project will focus on surveying the distribution of PAH degrading bacteria in sediments from the two flooded affected rivers, particularly at Chao Praya River and Tha Jin River deltas where intensive sediment deposition was found,” said Dr. Verawat Champreda, Researcher of Bioresources Technology Unit, BIOTEC project leader. Dr. Nobuyuki Fujita, Director General for Genomics and Biosafety of NITE Biological Resource Center, added that “the result of this survey will indicate the potential of indigenous microbes on PAH degradation under both natural and stimulated conditions”.

Active microbial consortia degrading PAHs and active microbial isolates from the project will be deposited at both BIOTEC Culture Collection and NITE Biological Resource Center for future use in bioremediation and other biotechnological application.

The National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE) is one of the government-funded affiliates of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, carrying out the governmental tasks based on its technological ability. The Biological Resource Center of NITE (NBRC) is operating one of the largest culture collections in the world and has been closely collaborating with BIOTEC Culture Collection (BCC) in the past 7 years for the conservation and sustainable use of microbial resources. The center is also actively engaged in the genome analysis of microorganisms and the biosafety assessment of microorganisms, including genetically modified microorganisms, in industrial use. In addition to these leading activities in biotechnology, the institute is offering a vital contribution to the society in the fields of chemical management, accreditation, and consumer product safety. More information about NITE is available at http://www.nite.go.jp.